"Future offenses will result in an escalation of fines up to and including suspension," Ray Anderson, the NFL's executive vice president of football operations, wrote in letters to the players, according to the league's announcement.

The league called the hits "flagrant violations of player safety rules" and said that Harrison was a repeat offender because of a previous fine this season for a roughing the passer penalty.

Anderson said Monday that the league planned to begin considering suspensions of players for illegal and dangerous hits to an opponent's head, even for a first offense. That announcement came a day after an alarming series of hits during Sunday's games that left players with head injuries.

Comments

If this rule has been ignored for years, and now they start enforcing it, how can they fine these players after the fact?
I can see fining players who hit helmet-to-helmet after the announcement, but these three players had no intent to do anything wrong.